This invention deals generally with an apparatus for cleaning filters and more specifically with an apparatus that blows pressurized air axially through cylindrical filters as the filters are being rotated.
For those of us familiar with only disposable household furnace filters and automobile air filters, the concept of cleaning filters seems ridiculous. However, there are valid reasons for cleaning filters. One reason that is mentioned in U.S. Pat. No. 6,428,588 by Holyoak et al. is to remove contaminants to facilitate the disposal of the filters. Another reason is the exceptionally high cost of some filters.
New government regulations require diesel engines to dramatically clean their exhaust discharge to prevent air contamination because bus and truck diesel engines are a major source of gaseous, particulate hydrocarbons, and carbon pollutants in urban areas. In order to meet the government regulations ceramic diesel particulate filters are installed in such vehicles in the exhaust stream immediately following the catalytic converter. However, such diesel particulate filters are very costly, and replacing them with new ones when they are too dirty is uneconomical.
It would be very beneficial to have available a cleaning system for diesel particulate filters that could automatically clean the filters and do so at a low cost.